http://thefriend.org/ en editorial@thefriend.org Copyright 2010 2010-03-10T14:30:27+00:00 http://thefriend.org/article/freed-to-live-more-fully/ http://thefriend.org/article/freed-to-live-more-fully/#When:13:30:27Z When Jill Kenner had to face the prospect of her own death, she realised she had begun the process of contemplation of it long before Three years ago, I was diagnosed with breast cancer. Recently I learned that the cancer had come back, with a possible secondary, which needed exploration. This gave me a sudden and sharp reminder of my mortality. My heart sank. If it came to the point would I, I wondered, be able to contemplate my own death with equanimity, as our Advices ask of us? When I think about it more closely, however, I realise that over the past ten years of my ageing I have, intermittently and in various ways, already begun such contemplations. This realisation comforts me and gives me strength. Let me give you some examples. Six years ago I decided to dedicate – in perpetuity, via the Woodland Trust – a woodland clearing in Wales in the names of my late husband and myself. It is a beautiful clearing, partly bounded by a stream, and with a single ash tree in its centre round which my ashes will be scattered when I die. A simple wooden seat has been put there, with a plaque upon it giving my husband’s name and dates, and the rectangle for my plaque next to his has already been chiselled out, which I experience as a reassurance rather than a threat. I visit the clearing with my family, and we talk about this husband, father and grandfather with affection and humour. As we do so I am aware that they will continue these visits when I am gone, and talk about us both. This feeling of continuity pleases me, for it is as it should be. featured in the homepage carousel 2010-03-10T13:30:27+00:00 http://thefriend.org/article/eyewitness-12-march-2010/ http://thefriend.org/article/eyewitness-12-march-2010/#When:13:28:11Z Gardens and plays The Quaker Meeting Place Garden at the Malvern Spring Gardening Show A small corner of the Three Counties Showground in the shadow of the Malvern Hills is not usually the place you would expect to find a Quaker Meeting. However, for four days at the beginning of May that is exactly what it will be as Matthew Jackman and his company, Topiarus horticulture Ltd, add the finishing touches to ‘The Quaker Meeting Place Garden’ at the Malvern Spring Gardening Show. Inspired after seeing a Quaker outreach advert in one of the national newspapers, Matthew decided that designing and creating a show garden would be a wonderful opportunity for outreach to a wide and diverse audience at Malvern. Matthew, who was bought up in a Quaker family from Reading, and attended Leighton Park School throughout his secondary education, achieved a RHS Silver Medal for his first show garden at Malvern in 2009, and felt that this would be a chance to give something back to Quakerism, which has had such a positive influence on his life. 2010-03-10T13:28:11+00:00 http://thefriend.org/article/an-ecumenical-quaker-wedding/ http://thefriend.org/article/an-ecumenical-quaker-wedding/#When:13:20:12Z Quaker registering officer Ian Macdonald describes an unusual wedding Being an appointed registering officer (RO) has been one of the most rewarding and interesting ways that I have been of service to our Area Meeting. In these changing times it is a rare occasion if the applicants for a Quaker marriage are both members of the Society. More often than not, one of the applicants is neither a member nor attender and often they might be of another faith or even of little religious conviction at all. The Society lays out clearly how a registering officer should handle marriage applications. If he or she has any doubts about safeguarding our traditions and our legal obligations regarding marriage applications, the RO should seek advice and permissions from their Area Meeting. Recently I received an application from a Friend who was living in our area but was a member of another Local Meeting who desired to have a Quaker marriage. It had been agreed by the couple that they wished to have a Quaker marriage in the tradition of Friends but, as her intended husband was a Roman Catholic, they desired the Meeting for Worship to be held in the hall of the church where he was an active member. In Scotland a registering officer is able to arrange Meeting for a Quaker marriage at any location where the local authority registrar may grant a Marriage Schedule. featured in the homepage carousel, free content 2010-03-10T13:20:12+00:00 http://thefriend.org/article/lent-talks-on-bbc-radio-4/ http://thefriend.org/article/lent-talks-on-bbc-radio-4/#When:13:14:55Z Judy Kirby listens to a talk by Will Self Novelist Will Self could be labelled an angry old man. But he has charisma and can certainly put over an argument. The ingenious suggestion he makes in the first BBC Radio 4 Lent talks (24 February) is that we are worshipping art rather than God these days. The churches are empty; the galleries are heaving with people. Art and religion were good friends at one stage, says Self. But they did split up, notably after two world wars had introduced a layer of cynicism and irony into society. Art quit the temple after the second world war, Self muses. He has detected a move to ‘aesthetic humanism’ in which the priests are curators and administrators of cultural life. Culture, Reviews 2010-03-10T13:14:55+00:00 http://thefriend.org/article/the-o-of-home/ http://thefriend.org/article/the-o-of-home/#When:13:06:19Z Quaker author Jennifer Kavanagh's new book leads Trish Carn to consider what 'home' means to her The O of Home by Jennifer Kavanagh. O Books. ISBN: 978 1 884694 264 8. £11.99 When I went to Jennifer Kavanagh’s launch of this book at the Quaker Centre I wasn’t sure what to expect. Home – how would I define it? Is it the flat above the Meeting house? Is it a place in the US where I used to live? Is it wherever I am with my family? I wasn’t surprised that Jennifer had looked at many sides of the question. She had worked with me in Quaker Homeless Action with the street homeless; she had worked with Quaker Social Action with émigrés far from their native lands, struggling to live in our country. But, she surprised me with the depth to which she had gone in exploring the variations on the word and then examining the reverse of the situation. With chapters on our bricks and mortar, our community, our borders and belonging and our planetary home, the book comes full circle: The O of Home. Culture, Reviews, featured in the homepage carousel 2010-03-10T13:06:19+00:00 http://thefriend.org/article/letters-12-march-2010/ http://thefriend.org/article/letters-12-march-2010/#When:11:55:28Z Readers' letters and emails 2010-03-10T11:55:28+00:00 http://thefriend.org/article/civil-partnership-religiously-celebrated-moves-closer/ http://thefriend.org/article/civil-partnership-religiously-celebrated-moves-closer/#When:11:40:24Z Symon Hill reports on moves to enable religious groups to perform civil partnership ceremonies. Quakers are celebrating the result of a dramatic vote in the House of Lords, which would for the first time allow the use of religious premises and religious language in same-sex civil partnership ceremonies. If the proposal becomes law, it would lead to same-sex partnerships celebrated in Quaker Meetings receiving the same legal recognition as those solemnised in register offices. Campaigners are pushing to ensure that the legislation is not held up by the general election, or hampered by the backlash from anti-gay groups. Friends have been instrumental in lobbying for the change, as religious elements are currently prohibited in civil partnerships. The proposal was carried by ninety-five votes to twenty-one after 11.00pm on Tuesday 2 March. News, featured in the homepage carousel, free content 2010-03-10T11:40:24+00:00 http://thefriend.org/article/another-way/ http://thefriend.org/article/another-way/#When:11:40:20Z Quaker action on climate change should come from a place of love, not fear, writes Laurie Michaelis The media have been fascinated by failings in the 2007 report from the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. So after another cold winter perhaps we shouldn’t be surprised that people doubt climate change is happening. Meanwhile scientists tell us 2009 was the second warmest year on record and saw a steep rise in atmospheric methane, possibly from the melting Arctic permafrost, which could amplify the warming. Climate scepticism connects to a fear of the government controls and simpler lifestyles that might be needed to cut carbon emissions by ninety percent or more. Change is seen as costly and painful, and must wait for scientific certainty or a more tangible fear of impending disaster. In 2006 QPSW Testimonies Committee was considering our Quaker testimony on sustainability, and minuted that it should spring from a place of love rather than fear. Our witness is that there is a better path than carbon-intensive consumerism. It is not just a matter of simple living and avoiding waste – though these are important. 2010-03-10T11:40:20+00:00 http://thefriend.org/article/children-of-women-in-prison-may-lose-contact-time/ http://thefriend.org/article/children-of-women-in-prison-may-lose-contact-time/#When:11:31:15Z Changes in rules for women's prisons likely to affect prisoners' children The government has come under fire for a reorganisation of women’s prisons that is likely to result in the children of prisoners having less contact with their mothers. While women’s prisons were previously classified as open, semi-open or closed, the government has turned the two semi-open women’s prisons – Morton Hall in Lincolnshire and Drake Hall in Staffordshire – into closed prisons. This leaves only two open prisons for women in England and Wales, along with twelve closed ones. The prison service now faces the anomaly of women classified as semi-open prisoners being detained in closed prisons, and apparently subject to rules for closed prisoners. Women in Prison, a non-governmental organisation (NGO) which works to support women offenders and ex-offenders, described the decision as ‘the quiet abolition of semi-open prisons for women’. There are particular fears about the effect on prisoners’ children. Semi-open prisoners are allowed to apply to spend time with their children outside of the prison. News 2010-03-10T11:31:15+00:00 http://thefriend.org/article/michael-foot-friend-of-friends/ http://thefriend.org/article/michael-foot-friend-of-friends/#When:11:23:44Z David Boulton recalls Mochael Foot's quaker links In the many tributes to Michael Foot, who died last week, few writers thought his Quaker education at Leighton Park School worth more than a passing mention. At his ninetieth birthday party six years ago, I asked how it had influenced him. ‘What I learned from the Quakers’, he told me, ‘was the faith that by putting ideas and action together you can change the world. That made me a humanist.’ But not a Quaker? ‘Well’, he replied with a chuckle, ‘isn’t humanism just Quakerism without the other-worldly bits?’ Michael famously had a pantheon of heroes ranging from Milton and Paine to Hazlitt and Nye Bevan. Among them was Gerrard Winstanley, True Leveller in the 1640s and a member of Westminster Monthly Meeting in the 1670s. In his foreword to my book Gerrard Winstanley and the republic of heaven Foot wrote that ‘Winstanley’s “enabling dream” is not fixed and confined in a romantic past but remains relevant today, despite all the convulsive changes of the intervening centuries’. Winstanley’s passionate insistence that ‘action is the life of all’ sums up Foot’s own life-long commitment to what he called ‘the politics of paradise’. 2010-03-10T11:23:44+00:00 http://thefriend.org/article/now-is-the-time/ http://thefriend.org/article/now-is-the-time/#When:11:15:00Z Sam Walton describes a new ecumenical coalition working to strengthen the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty ‘We cannot tackle the threat of nuclear terrorism by simply rehearsing old doctrines of defence. The simple fact is that more nuclear weapons do not make for a safer world. We must instead turn to the universal adoption of common rules and standards, enforced by international treaties. It is crucial that all nuclear armed states now demonstrate a willingness to redefine their concepts of security.’ Are these the words of a veteran peace activist? A Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament press officer? A Friend who has been committed for years to getting rid of nuclear weapons? In fact they are the words of Tom Butler, bishop of Southwark, and he and a whole alliance of churches, Britain Yearly Meeting included, have come together to launch the Now is the Time campaign. 2010-03-10T11:15:00+00:00 http://thefriend.org/article/punished-for-thinking/ http://thefriend.org/article/punished-for-thinking/#When:11:12:24Z Ex-soldier jailed for refusing to return to Afghanistan Friends have criticised the decision of a military court to sentence a former soldier to nine months’ imprisonment for refusing to participate in military action in Afghanistan. Joe Glenton, 27, became convinced that the war in Afghanistan was wrong after fighting there for seven months. He was convicted on 5 March of going ‘absent without leave’ from the British army. An earlier charge of ‘desertion’ – which carries up to ten years’ imprisonment – was dropped at the last moment, leading to speculation that the authorities wished to avoid a potentially embarrassing trial discussing the ethics of the war. News 2010-03-10T11:12:24+00:00 http://thefriend.org/article/cnd-visits-fifteen-embassies/ http://thefriend.org/article/cnd-visits-fifteen-embassies/#When:11:06:30Z Campaigners challenge governments on nuclear disarmament Members of the Christian Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CCND), including Friends, have called on fifteen London-based embassies to ask what steps their countries are taking towards achieving international nuclear disarmament. CCND’s action, on 1 March, comes ahead of the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) Review Conference, due to take place in New York in May. The NPT commits the first five nuclear weapons states – the USA, Russia, the UK, France and China – to ‘pursue negotiations in good faith on effective measures relating to cessation of the nuclear arms race’. News 2010-03-10T11:06:30+00:00 http://thefriend.org/article/now-is-the-time-for-nations-to-commit-to-a-world-free-of-nuclear-weapons-sa/ http://thefriend.org/article/now-is-the-time-for-nations-to-commit-to-a-world-free-of-nuclear-weapons-sa/#When:11:00:25Z Churches call for action on nuclear disarmament An alliance of UK churches, including Quakers, last week launched a campaign, entitled Now is the Time, to press governments to put all bomb-grade material under international control and commit to making the use and possession of nuclear weapons illegal through a new Nuclear Weapons Convention. The churches are voicing these concerns in advance of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) Review Conference this May, which they believe will be crucial for international disarmament. News 2010-03-10T11:00:25+00:00 http://thefriend.org/article/same-sex-marriage-amendment-passes-in-house-of-lords/ http://thefriend.org/article/same-sex-marriage-amendment-passes-in-house-of-lords/#When:09:26:17Z Symon Hill reports on a lobbying success for Quakers and other religious groups who support same-sex marriage News, free content 2010-03-04T09:26:17+00:00 http://thefriend.org/article/eyewitness-05-march-2010/ http://thefriend.org/article/eyewitness-05-march-2010/#When:14:51:11Z Eyewitness - a sideways look at the Quaker world Will this catch on? There’s no end to the clever ways charities have of persuading us all to give more help to developing countries. You can give a goat, support a village, send your computer. But how about giving your lavatory? Seriously – Eye thinks this is a great idea to improve desperately needed sanitation in African countries. You don’t actually give away your loo of course, but you twin your home ‘facility’ with a new one in Burundi, which you sponsor. Some male Friends in Coventry seem to have been the impetus for this unique idea. It started out as a straightforward fund to improve sanitation in Burundi, by a local charity called Cord. Coventry Meeting saw the appeal leaflets but were rather underwhelmed by them. ‘Somehow they did not excite interest,’ says William Waddilove of Coventry Meeting. Q-eye 2010-03-03T14:51:11+00:00 http://thefriend.org/article/are-we-cool/ http://thefriend.org/article/are-we-cool/#When:14:06:48Z Helen Dymond answers Abraham Maslow’s ‘thought-provoking charge against Quakerism’ I recently came across a book that contains, in passing, a thought-provoking charge against Quakerism. It is Religions, Values, and Peak-Experiences by the psychologist Abraham Maslow: universally remembered for his theory of human motivation, the pyramidical ‘Hierarchy of Human Needs’, with ‘self-actualisation’, or integration of the whole personality, at the top. Self-actualizing people, he says, are our most compassionate, our great improvers and reformers of society, our most effective fighters against injustice, inequality, slavery, cruelty, exploitation. This book spoke to me immediately because it is inclusive. ‘Peak-experiences’ happen to secular and religious people alike. Whether the stimulus is great art, music or natural beauty, love of another, or contemplation of what the individual holds to be divine, the individual is lifted outside the self to a wondrous sense of harmonization with universal powers. Well before Dawkins’ onslaught on religion caught the public imagination, Maslow was lamenting the tendency of rational science to eliminate ‘values… goals, ends, yearnings, aspirations, hopes, …the inexact, the illogical, the metaphorical, the mythic, the symbolic… it is not yet understood that they are characteristic of the human being at his highest levels of development as well as at his lowest.’ 2010-03-03T14:06:48+00:00 http://thefriend.org/article/truth-as-a-crescent-moon/ http://thefriend.org/article/truth-as-a-crescent-moon/#When:13:59:41Z Rowena Loverance reviews Peter Brock's new play, 11 and 12 I took part in a master class the other day. Me and about a thousand others. In a packed auditorium, we practised the sound of one hand clapping. We pointed our right hand at the stage and concentrated on being fully present in the exact point and moment. We clenched our hand into a fist, made to throw it at the stage and then sat back in our seats. Feeling and letting go. The master in question was the theatre director Peter Brook, and we were the post-show audience of his new play 11 and 12, itself a reworking, as Brook loves to do, of an earlier version, Tierno Bokar, shown in the UK (in French) in 2005. Set in French Sudan, modern Mali, it tells the true story of a dispute within a Muslim Sufi order over how many times one particular prayer should be recited. As the row escalated, exacerbated by the interventions of colonial officials, it led to intercommunal violence and the eventual deaths of both protagonists, Shaykh Hamallah in exile in Vichy France and Tierno Bokar in abandoned isolation. Culture, Reviews 2010-03-03T13:59:41+00:00 http://thefriend.org/article/the-night-is-full-of-stars/ http://thefriend.org/article/the-night-is-full-of-stars/#When:13:55:30Z Kurt Strauss reviews the autobiography of this PoW doctor ‘The Night is Full of Stars’ by Friedrich Schmitz-Hertzberg. Sessions of York, Ebor Press Division. ISBN: 978 1 85072 397 4 Price: £9.99 plus £2.50 UK postage & packing. There is something vaguely familiar, and slightly unsettling, about the face on the cover of this book. The eyes, looking at something just behind your left ear, convey a feeling of unease. The mouth is clearly trying not to turn down at the corners. Where have I seen this face before, I wonder? Ah yes – on video clips of hostages, filmed by those who captured them. Their unspoken question hovers in the air: ‘Will I ever get out of this alive?’ But this is not the face of a hostage but of a PoW, a prisoner of war. He was a trainee doctor, recruited into the army at the beginning of the second world war and, together with the wounded men he was caring for, taken prisoner by the advancing Russian troops less than two months before the German surrender in May 1945. This may have marked the end of the war for many, but for the author (generally referred to as Fritz), it was the start of more than four years of hardship, of suffering that must at times have bordered on the unbearable, and of having to witness the death of fellow-prisoners whose lives he was unable to save. Did the one who drew this haunting sketch of him in 1946 survive, one wonders? Culture, Reviews 2010-03-03T13:55:30+00:00 http://thefriend.org/article/a-very-human-right/ http://thefriend.org/article/a-very-human-right/#When:13:12:17Z Derek Brett examines the right to pay a peace tax rather than a tax for military purposes Let me tell you the story of a young man who grew up in Switzerland. In Switzerland, all male citizens are, at the age of nineteen or twenty, called up for about three months’ military training. Thereafter they keep their rifle and their uniform at home and at intervals until their early thirties have to do a further fortnight of military service. Our young man was no exception. But a year or two later he had back problems, and the army doctor exempted him from further military service. The problems were treated and he continued playing tennis. At this he was quite successful. However the army did not rush to review its original decision. Perhaps the fact that Swiss men who for any reason do not perform military service in a particular year are instead required to pay an extra three per cent ‘military tax’ on their income may have had something to do with it. To the Swiss military, three per cent of Roger Federer’s income is worth far more than having him patrol the mountains for a couple of weeks! In the UK and most other countries today we are almost all Roger Federers. Unlike the Swiss, we are no longer conscripted into the armed forces. They find it far more useful to have us earn money, which they can then ‘conscript’ as taxes to pay for their expensive weaponry. But others do not make the linkage as explicit as do the Swiss. featured in the homepage carousel, free content 2010-03-03T13:12:17+00:00 http://thefriend.org/article/letters-05-march-2010/ http://thefriend.org/article/letters-05-march-2010/#When:13:04:54Z Readers' letters and emails 2010-03-03T13:04:54+00:00 http://thefriend.org/article/becoming-friends/ http://thefriend.org/article/becoming-friends/#When:13:00:57Z Anne Dunford is unsure about the new Becoming Friends course I have just been looking through a copy of Becoming Friends. There is a lot of interesting material in the publication and I can see a great deal of time, energy and thought has gone into this. However, I am finding it very difficult to get my head round the idea of a training course for Friends who wish to become a companion. I also feel that some attenders might see this rather hefty document and be put off. Nearly thirty years ago, I first attended a Quaker Meeting and subsequently became a Quaker by convincement (not through a course). I talked to many Friends and attenders at my then Preparative Meeting, discovering that a Quaker Meeting encompassed differing views and was not dogmatic or rigid in any way. With the guidance and support of many, I read a variety of books about Quakers in addition to Quaker faith & practice, the Friend and other Quaker publications. 2010-03-03T13:00:57+00:00 http://thefriend.org/article/hunger-strikers-and-truth/ http://thefriend.org/article/hunger-strikers-and-truth/#When:12:54:32Z Quaker writer Frances Laing looks at the situation at Yarl's Wood detention centre With the launch of Early Day motion 919 in support of Yarl’s Wood hunger strikers this struggle for truth and justice has reached parliament. In a backlash, Meg Hillier, junior minister in the Home Office, wrote to every MP claiming the media were ‘misreporting’. Hunger strikers ‘were buying food from the centre’s shop and having food delivered by visitors’. Having researched this incident from the start, I believe Hillier’s letter is dishonest. Visitors are not allowed to bring food into Yarl’s Wood. On 22 February thirty-two strikers signed a statement to say they had not eaten since 5 February. Canteen records are kept under Serco’s control. One detainee reported staff ticked the boxes in their record book to say she had eaten meals even though she had not been to the canteen for three weeks. 2010-03-03T12:54:32+00:00 http://thefriend.org/article/testimonies-to-equality-and-peace/ http://thefriend.org/article/testimonies-to-equality-and-peace/#When:12:49:56Z Alec McPherson-Glasgow queries whether we are living up to these testimonies In the 1930s, Ben Greene (cousin of Graham) was a Friend and Peace Pledge Union signatory: and Treasurer to the pro-Nazi British People’s Party, for which he was later interned. Nor was he the only signatory to the PPU associated with Nazi groups. The racist policies and use of political repression in Nazi Germany were known, but the PPU newsletter frequently dismissed testimonies of refugees and the threat to Czechoslovakia. My friendliest assessment of Ben Greene’s motivations is of semi-detached idealism: a Tolstoyean approach which sees that of God in everyone, rather than a Dostoevskian appreciation that there may also be a bit of Satan. Pacifism calls for immense inner strength to call for restraint when one’s own child is being attacked, rather than someone else’s child. Wolf Mendl spoke to my condition about this contradiction (Quaker faith & practice 24:22). 2010-03-03T12:49:56+00:00 http://thefriend.org/article/west-yorkshire-quakers-speak-out-for-equality/ http://thefriend.org/article/west-yorkshire-quakers-speak-out-for-equality/#When:11:48:20Z West Yorkshire church groups call on politicians to tackle economic inequality Quakers in West Yorkshire have spoken out against the growing gap between rich and poor. They joined with a range of other church groups to call on politicians to tackle economic inequality as a greater priority than economic growth. Along with other members of the West Yorkshire Ecumenical Council (WYEC), they insisted that economic inequality exacerbates illness, crime and low educational attainment. Their unity reflects the growing support for the view that many social problems are fuelled not only by poverty but also by inequality. Their statement, Every Person Matters: Christian community values and the rich-poor divide, also highlights projects that promote volunteering, generosity and community commitment. News 2010-03-03T11:48:20+00:00 http://thefriend.org/article/the-fear-factory/ http://thefriend.org/article/the-fear-factory/#When:11:47:29Z Paul Funnell looks at this new film showing that custodial sentences for children are largely counterproductive The Fear Factory, a new film, premiered at The Empire cinema in Leicester Square, London, on Monday, 1 March. Produced by Spirit Level Films, this excellent production gives a balanced insight into the problems that abound in our judicial system and, in particular, the scandalous issue of the current high numbers of children who are taken into custody. The film reveals that this is not only very expensive but also largely counter productive. In fact, it makes the case that the taking of young people of twelve to fourteen years into custody is a sure way to create the criminals of the future. We heard from all parties in the film: young and older offenders, politicians and charity workers. 2010-03-03T11:47:29+00:00 http://thefriend.org/article/swansea-group-challenges-tesco-labelling/ http://thefriend.org/article/swansea-group-challenges-tesco-labelling/#When:11:31:06Z 'West Bank' produce criticised A group of 100 Swansea residents and shoppers are seeking to prosecute the supermarket chain Tesco over their sale of goods produced in Israeli settlements on Palestine’s West Bank. The campaigners have signed a letter to the Swansea Trading Standards Office, urging them to begin prosecution proceedings. They were due to present their case on 3 March. News 2010-03-03T11:31:06+00:00 http://thefriend.org/article/topping-out-ceremony-for-salisbury-quakers/ http://thefriend.org/article/topping-out-ceremony-for-salisbury-quakers/#When:11:15:33Z Derelict building converted into new meeting house Salisbury Quakers celebrated the building work to their new Meeting house carried out so far with a traditional Topping Out ceremony on Saturday, 27 February. Quakers bought the beautiful but derelict Grade II listed building known as Kennet Lodge in 2003. Since then they have raised over £500,000, without Lottery funding, for its conversion. It will provide a spiritual home for local Quakers and will be available for use by the wider community. 2010-03-03T11:15:33+00:00 http://thefriend.org/article/jrct-sells-vedanta-shares-due-to-alleged-human-rights-abuses/ http://thefriend.org/article/jrct-sells-vedanta-shares-due-to-alleged-human-rights-abuses/#When:10:57:22Z Major Quaker trust sells shares in mining company The Joseph Rowntree Charitable Trust (JRCT) has sold almost £2million worth of shares in the Indian-based mining company Vedanta due to the company’s alleged abuse of human rights and the environment. JRCT, a Quaker institution, had been in discussions with Vedanta about their concerns for nine months before making their decision. The news came only weeks after the Church of England announced that they would sell their own shares in Vedanta. The Church has long faced criticism over its allegedly unethical investments. Vedanta recently built a refinery at the foot of a mountain in the Indian state of Orissa in order to mine bauxite. The project is already reported to have caused considerable environmental damage at the expense of local residents. The land is also considered sacred by the local Kondh people. News, featured in the homepage carousel, free content 2010-03-03T10:57:22+00:00 http://thefriend.org/article/calls-for-better-alcohol-labelling/ http://thefriend.org/article/calls-for-better-alcohol-labelling/#When:10:55:33Z Quaker group calls for clearer labelling on alcoholic drinks Quaker activists have backed calls for compulsory health warnings on alcohol. They have warned the government not to rely solely on voluntary agreements with the alcohol industry. The government recently found that only fifteen per cent of alcoholic drinks provide enough information about unit measurements and health risks, despite an existing agreement with producers. This led to calls to replace the current voluntary code with a compulsory one. Gillian Merron, public health minister for England, said: ‘While there should be no need to bring in legislation when the industry can clearly sort it out themselves, we will not hesitate to act decisively if industry does not deliver’. News 2010-03-03T10:55:33+00:00 http://thefriend.org/article/hunger-strikes-at-yarls-wood/ http://thefriend.org/article/hunger-strikes-at-yarls-wood/#When:10:49:22Z Symon Hill reports on conditions at Yarl's Wood detention centre Demands are growing for an urgent inquiry into conditions at the Yarl’s Wood detention centre in Bedfordshire. A hunger strike by women detainees has drawn attention to allegations of mistreatment. At least twenty women are thought to be refusing food at present. The Labour MP John McDonnell has demanded an inquiry into allegations of violence, mistreatment and racial abuse. Yarl’s Wood, which is a holding centre for migrants entering Britain, has long attracted criticism from human rights groups and pro-immigration campaigners. News, featured in the homepage carousel 2010-03-03T10:49:22+00:00 http://thefriend.org/article/religious-service-for-civil-partnerships-draws-nearer/ http://thefriend.org/article/religious-service-for-civil-partnerships-draws-nearer/#When:16:36:49Z Judy Kirby reports on developments that may bring same-sex marriage a step closer Support is gathering behind the amendment to the Equality Bill presented by gay Labour peer lord Alli that would lift the ban on Civil Partnerships taking place in religious premises. After an earlier defeat, lord Alli is trying again in the House of Lords on Tuesday, when Anglican bishops are expected to give support to his amendment. Quakers made the running on this issue when they agreed at their yearly meeting last summer to treat same-sex committed relationships the same as opposite sex ones, stopping short of asking Quaker registrars to break the law. News, free content 2010-02-24T16:36:49+00:00 http://thefriend.org/article/letters-26-february-2010/ http://thefriend.org/article/letters-26-february-2010/#When:15:49:02Z Readers' letters and emails 2010-02-24T15:49:02+00:00 http://thefriend.org/article/spirit-rising/ http://thefriend.org/article/spirit-rising/#When:15:43:03Z Introducing Spirit Rising, a book to writing and art by young Quakers from around the world In 2008 Quakers Uniting in Publications gathered an editorial board of ten young people from different branches of Quakerism and different countries. The board spent a year gathering contributions from around the Quaker world. Then they met in 2009 to select and edit the pieces. Now titled Spirit Rising: Young Quakers Speak, the forthcoming Quaker youth book includes over 210 pieces of writing and visual art by over 150 teenage and young adult Friends from 16 countries, including Australia, Bolivia, Burundi, Canada, Cuba, Guatemala, El Salvador, Italy, Kenya, Korea, New Zealand, Nepal, Norway, Sweden, the United Kingdom and the United States. All major contemporary theological branches of the Religious Society of Friends are represented. The book is truly an unprecedented accomplishment among Friends and a profound gift of the Spirit. Culture, Arts 2010-02-24T15:43:03+00:00 http://thefriend.org/article/quaker-week-at-sidcot-junior-school/ http://thefriend.org/article/quaker-week-at-sidcot-junior-school/#When:15:41:24Z 2010-02-24T15:41:24+00:00 http://thefriend.org/article/a-summer-in-ecuador/ http://thefriend.org/article/a-summer-in-ecuador/#When:15:38:51Z 2010-02-24T15:38:51+00:00 http://thefriend.org/article/news-from-the-sidcot-quaker-elders/ http://thefriend.org/article/news-from-the-sidcot-quaker-elders/#When:15:23:41Z One thing that is prominent at Sidcot is the friendly, open atmosphere and to a lot of the students, Sidcot is more than just a school – it’s a community. As student elders, we are active in encouraging the Quaker spirit around the school by setting up various events, groups, workshops and talks, all providing knowledge and awareness of the faith. There are countless opportunities at Sidcot to learn about the world around us, and it is through understanding current issues and other cultures that we are able to hold such successful charitable events. One of our teachers stood up recently in assembly and said ‘Congratulations Sidcot, you are fabulous!’ before revealing the amount of money that we managed to raise for Children in Need (a fantastic £1656.79!) 2010-02-24T15:23:41+00:00 http://thefriend.org/article/learning-to-make-a-difference-in-kenya/ http://thefriend.org/article/learning-to-make-a-difference-in-kenya/#When:15:15:51Z Building international links I’m Joe Patrick and I am head boy at Sidcot. Last summer I travelled to Kilifi in Kenya with my friend Matt, as we wanted to learn more about the charity organisations that sponsor young people in Africa. We planned how we were going to get there and funded the trip by raising money through a sponsored cycle from John O’Groats to Lands End and other events. Most of the money was used to sponsor an African student of our age who we met on our trip. Kenya is a magical place that can’t be described using words alone. One of the most noticeable thing is the friendliness of the people, there most of whom have next to nothing, bringing the English equivalent of £2.50 back to their huge families every week. However, this doesn’t seem to dampen their spirits. 2010-02-24T15:15:51+00:00 http://thefriend.org/article/a-quaker-experience/ http://thefriend.org/article/a-quaker-experience/#When:15:11:16Z Ben Cox describes his experiences at a Quaker school I am, and believe that I always will be, an atheist. From early in my school education I was presented with many ideas about God, stories of the Bible and was preached to by the local vicar every Friday morning. We learnt about the various cultures and religions and I was reasonably interested in their varying beliefs and practices but nothing really caught my attention, until now. I came to Sidcot in 2006 on 5 September, which was, coincidentally, my birthday. It was scary of course, having never boarded before, being thrust into a house with twenty-four other boys, some of whom were a good deal bigger than me and had been there a considerably longer. Mostly, though, I remember the questions from home. These generally started with: how are things with you? And ended with: so what is this Quakerism all about? featured in the homepage carousel, free content 2010-02-24T15:11:16+00:00 http://thefriend.org/article/hope-and-imagination/ http://thefriend.org/article/hope-and-imagination/#When:15:08:28Z Michael Goodwin, head of Sibford School, looks at what Quaker schools have to offer According to Quaker faith & practice 23.85 ‘the two qualities which are most important to children of today are hope and imagination. Hope to believe they can change the world they live in and imagination to find ways to do so.’ The truth of this statement was brought dramatically home to me recently by two coinciding events. One was the horrific case of the young boys in Doncaster who brutally tortured two of their peers. And the other was a letter from the grandmother of a former pupil who had been involved in a tragic accident in which two people died. 2010-02-24T15:08:28+00:00 http://thefriend.org/article/that-friday-feeling/ http://thefriend.org/article/that-friday-feeling/#When:15:05:37Z This comment was written following a Friday Meeting for Worship during which recordings of those who had witnessed the earthquake in Haiti were played. This comment was written following a Friday Meeting for Worship during which recordings of those who had witnessed the earthquake in Haiti were played. With our best Friday-faces on we trudge to school. And we complain that it’s too early, or too dark, or too wet or quite possibly all three. With the habit of sleeping until the last possible minute, not many of us bother with the luxury of the morning news. Neither can we, with our hard day of study ahead, be wasting our weary eyes upon the morning papers. And so the usual conversations arise, seemingly oblivious to the wider world. The day goes on, and between those who are working hard, and those who are pretending, the modern day can hardly find a chink through which to interrupt. 2010-02-24T15:05:37+00:00 http://thefriend.org/article/pupils-reap-the-fruits-of-their-labour/ http://thefriend.org/article/pupils-reap-the-fruits-of-their-labour/#When:14:59:03Z In September 2008, Sibford School shifted the focus of its junior curriculum to include outdoor learning. The move has had a significant impact… in more ways than one When Sibford School introduced outdoor learning to its junior curriculum we hadn’t bargained on the knock on effect it might have in the school kitchens. While covering the whole curriculum from English and history through to maths and science an inevitable byproduct of outdoor education tends to be plenty of fresh produce. And with the school caterers committed to sourcing local ingredients, the end customer was, quite literally, sitting on our own doorstep! Junior school teacher, Edward Rossiter, says: ‘Having the opportunity to find out first hand where food comes from has been a terrific experience. It’s been great for pupils to be able to plant, nurture, harvest and then eat what they’ve grown.’ 2010-02-24T14:59:03+00:00 http://thefriend.org/article/sibford-celebrates-as-past-meets-future/ http://thefriend.org/article/sibford-celebrates-as-past-meets-future/#When:14:55:45Z Pupils look to the future of their eighty-year-old school June marks the eightieth anniversary of the opening of the main school building. September sees the twenty-first anniversary of the opening of the Junior School. Meanwhile, Sibford is also looking to the future as it embarks on the second stage of a major expansion programme. ‘It’s exciting times for Sibford’, says head Michael Goodwin. ‘It’s great to look back and to see how the school has developed since it was first launched back in 1842. But, more importantly, it’s great that we are in a position where we can continue to expand.’ 2010-02-24T14:55:45+00:00 http://thefriend.org/article/participation-in-city-affairs/ http://thefriend.org/article/participation-in-city-affairs/#When:14:51:27Z Two pupils from the Mount School write about their involvment in the York Youth Council The York Youth Council (YYC) is a newly founded council committee for people aged eleven to eighteen years. The youth council is made up of nominated young people representing the schools and youth groups of York. The big aim of the youth council is to give the young people of York a real voice in the issues which affect them. It allows young people to voice their opinions on what goes on in York and allows them to contribute towards the issues that affect them. It also provides the opportunity for young people to publicise themselves in a positive light. YYC aims to become the voice of young people in our area, conveying their wishes to local decision-makers. The councillors will be trained to get the skills they require to represent their peers, and hopefully go on to make some improvements that will make a difference. 2010-02-24T14:51:27+00:00 http://thefriend.org/article/the-princes-trust/ http://thefriend.org/article/the-princes-trust/#When:14:49:12Z The Prince’s Trust has a project challenging Sixth Form students to raise £500 for the charity by setting up and running their own small business. The ‘Challenge 500’ scheme involves groups from local schools working with successful business professionals to reach the £500 target in whatever way they wish. Every part of the business has to be run and organised by the students themselves; from ideas, to manufacturing, distributing and selling the product as well as keeping up-to-date financial records. In 2008, I was the managing director of our Mount School Company and was one of thirteen College girls given thirteen weeks to generate £500 profit from nothing. With regular board meetings, brainstorming with business mentors and much debate, we decided to design and produce ‘I heart MSY’ (Mount School York) hoodies, mugs and key-rings. The merchandise proved a big hit; we surpassed the target and raised £1,256.20. 2010-02-24T14:49:12+00:00 http://thefriend.org/article/tregelles-woodland-area/ http://thefriend.org/article/tregelles-woodland-area/#When:14:44:47Z 2010-02-24T14:44:47+00:00 http://thefriend.org/article/why-and-how-should-we-remember/ http://thefriend.org/article/why-and-how-should-we-remember/#When:14:44:04Z Anna Webster considers the nature of rememberance In 2008, I took part in the Imperial War Museum’s visit ‘Away to Remember’ and was in Belgium on the ninetieth anniversary of the Armistice. In 2009 I was invited to the memorial service in Westminster Abbey to mark the passing of the last of the generation who fought in 1914 to 1918. During my time at the Mount, I have had plenty of opportunities to reflect upon the importance of remembrance. It is sometimes said that we never learn from our past, and that almost begs the question: ‘why bother to try?’ This I do not accept. It is true that we don’t always learn from mistakes in the past, but if we don’t try, we also resign ourselves to not having the chance to make different choices and to change things for the future. featured in the homepage carousel 2010-02-24T14:44:04+00:00 http://thefriend.org/article/york-independent-state-school-partnership-issp/ http://thefriend.org/article/york-independent-state-school-partnership-issp/#When:14:42:44Z Building links between independent and state schools 2010-02-24T14:42:44+00:00 http://thefriend.org/article/peacejam-youth-conference-march-2010/ http://thefriend.org/article/peacejam-youth-conference-march-2010/#When:14:37:24Z Peace work at The Mount The PeaceJam Youth Conference in Bradford will be focusing upon extreme poverty throughout the world in a series of talks, debates and projects. It is being eagerly awaited by the Mount School PeaceJam group! PeaceJam aims to bring together Nobel Peace Laureates and young people, providing events to inspire the latter to carry out acts of peace within their society. PeaceJam is an important aspect of Mount life and inspires us to promote peace, both within school and our wider community. 2010-02-24T14:37:24+00:00 http://thefriend.org/article/the-leighton-park-reachout-project/ http://thefriend.org/article/the-leighton-park-reachout-project/#When:14:31:05Z Rosie Hopgood writes about awareness, action and fundraising work at Leighton ParkRosie Hopgood writes about 2010-02-24T14:31:05+00:00 http://thefriend.org/article/quaker-values-and-todays-society/ http://thefriend.org/article/quaker-values-and-todays-society/#When:14:26:08Z Matt Winkless asks how Quaker vales can interact with today's celebrity-obsessed culture In the last few weeks, news of John Terry’s infidelity has spread across our front and back pages. It is ironic, since in 2009 he had been named ‘Dad of the Year’ after a Daddies Sauce survey. It seems to be impossible to escape the ‘cult of celebrity’, with gossip magazines outnumbering specialist magazines. On the very same day as Fabio Capello removed Terry’s captaincy a language became extinct (in the Andaman Islands near India), two bombs exploded in Karachi, Pakistan, killing twenty-two, and Uganda’s Deputy Foreign Minister admitted the proposed anti-homosexuality bill was being reviewed. Yet none of these things were as widely publicised. Surely our priorities have gone askew somewhere? 2010-02-24T14:26:08+00:00 http://thefriend.org/article/leighton-park-reflections-living-in-a-quaker-school-as-a-quaker/ http://thefriend.org/article/leighton-park-reflections-living-in-a-quaker-school-as-a-quaker/#When:14:17:59Z Acadia Stanton reflects on life at a Quaker school As a Quaker it is motivating to be in a Quaker school like Leighton Park, as you get to learn more about the beliefs and values of Quakerism. Even if you are not a Quaker you still get to fully experience the Quaker values and way of life; we have more time to gather our thoughts and think about hard decisions we have to make. Every Thursday we have a silent Meeting where we are left to our own thoughts. 2010-02-24T14:17:59+00:00 http://thefriend.org/article/leighton-park-reflections-an-interview-with-john-dunston-head/ http://thefriend.org/article/leighton-park-reflections-an-interview-with-john-dunston-head/#When:14:12:04Z Morwenna Hull and Leighton Park head John Dunston consider the importance of community and values in a school When waiting to interview John Dunston, I am not afraid to say I was nervous, but the second I walked into his room, John straight away made me comfortable and gave me a feeling of being welcome. I have known John Dunston for six and a half years as Head at Leighton Park School. So to be able to interview him, as he is soon leaving, was a great honour. John Dunston is the first Jewish head in a Quaker school; he believes that his values have been similar in many ways to Quakerism, but also complemented by it, to give him a greatly enriched spiritual sense. He has now been a Head at Quaker schools for twenty years. He was at Sibford for six and a half years, and then at Leighton Park since 1996. When he was asked how he felt about leaving after this significant period of time he said: ‘I am going to miss Leighton Park, but I do think that it’s the right time for the school to begin its next chapter, and for me as well to have the chance for a change in direction.’ 2010-02-24T14:12:04+00:00 http://thefriend.org/article/leighton-park-arts-the-crucible-by-arthur-miller/ http://thefriend.org/article/leighton-park-arts-the-crucible-by-arthur-miller/#When:13:56:22Z Geraint Thomas teels os artistic goings-on at Leighton Park In February Leighton Park staged its senior production, The Crucible. The language is challenging; the narrative gripping; the location atmospheric; the characters beautifully drawn. At Leighton Park, we wanted to concentrate on the emotional content of the play. Student actors often find it difficult to come to terms with the complexity of the feelings that the characters display and the emotional ‘journey’ of even the supporting roles. Culture, Arts 2010-02-24T13:56:22+00:00 http://thefriend.org/article/reflections-on-haiti-week/ http://thefriend.org/article/reflections-on-haiti-week/#When:13:52:57Z Matthew Richardson looks at how pupils at Friends' School Saffron Walden tried to help following the earthquake in Haiti in January As part of the Haiti week at Friends’ School Saffron Walden, Year 7 volunteers talked about the impact of the catastrophic earthquake that hit the country. As a Quaker school, we are committed to helping people in all walks of life and all over the world. By raising awareness in our week of activities, we wished to show our compassion and concern for the people of Haiti. 2010-02-24T13:52:57+00:00 http://thefriend.org/article/model-united-nations-conference/ http://thefriend.org/article/model-united-nations-conference/#When:13:47:07Z On Sunday 7 and Monday 8 February 2010, two teams from Friends’ School participated in a Model United Nations Conference at Felsted School. The countries we were representing were Costa Rica and Democratic Republic of Congo. These countries were allocated to us and we had to research them in advance of the Conference. In keeping with our Quaker values of tolerance and respect for the opinions of others, the Model United Nations required us to look at the world through the eyes of others. 2010-02-24T13:47:07+00:00 http://thefriend.org/article/news-from-friends-school-saffron-walden/ http://thefriend.org/article/news-from-friends-school-saffron-walden/#When:13:37:36Z A round-up of news from Friends' School Saffron Walden Hope for Peace During Quaker Schools Week Friends’ School celebrated with a series of events. We hosted a one-day seminar with the Peace Education Network and held a special assembly and workshop with Candia Crossfield, a young Quaker and Peace worker. The Sixth Form attended Meetings for Clearness run by tutors from Woodbrooke, Britain’s Quaker Study Centre, and all students were treated to hot chocolate and Fairtrade cakes at recess. On Thursday, Meeting for Worship took place in all seven Quaker schools in England at the same time and to round off the week fifteen doves were released on Friday, one for every form group at Friends’. Anna Chaudhri, deputy head, said: ‘The entire week was a real celebration of our Quaker values: truth, equality, simplicity and peace.’ 2010-02-24T13:37:36+00:00 http://thefriend.org/article/martin-hugall-dedicated-service/ http://thefriend.org/article/martin-hugall-dedicated-service/#When:13:29:45Z Roly Fischer-Vousden and Jess Dickinson interviewed a long-serving staff member on his retirement Why did you apply to teach at Friends’ School Saffron Walden? My university tutor was a Quaker and I was impressed by him and when this job came up I just knew that it was right for me as I particularly wanted to work in a school with a Christian foundation. Friends’ School has a soul and that is very important to me. Have you taught any notable pupils? A pupil that I am very proud to have taught is Martha Holmes who went on to produce a number of BBC wildlife programmes, including Sea Trek and Life in the Freezer. There are many other pupils that I have taught who have gone on to do great things. I have always had an interest in the medical aspects of Biology and several pupils I have taught have become doctors. I have had recent contact with one who is an eminent eye consultant and another who is a brain surgeon. Many others email me to let me know they now have PhDs. Some make a lot of money but many have very worthwhile and caring careers and I can’t help feeling that they have been influenced by their Friends’ School experience. 2010-02-24T13:29:45+00:00 http://thefriend.org/article/a-democracy-not-based-on-honesty-and-respect-is-no-democracy-at-all/ http://thefriend.org/article/a-democracy-not-based-on-honesty-and-respect-is-no-democracy-at-all/#When:13:24:36Z Ewan Blackledge argues that democracy cannot work without truth What are we to make of the different parties’ views on the big question of care for the elderly, and other important social concerning fairness and under privilege? We are entering again that phase of our democratic life when the entire country will be awash with avoidances and half-truths. The Conservatives have become the ‘party of the rich’ and Labour has become the ‘people who broke Britain’. Somewhere along the way, the facts and evidence so revered by the Enlightenment thinkers who spawned it, were lost from our democratic process, replaced by half-truth and pure fairy-tale. 2010-02-24T13:24:36+00:00 http://thefriend.org/article/art-and-materialism/ http://thefriend.org/article/art-and-materialism/#When:13:19:47Z Elise Ashby asks how materialistic art is At the beginning of a new decade with the threat of global warming looming, there is increasing pressure to cut our carbon footprints, and materialism is often seen as the evil we need to overcome. However, it is also often forgotten that materialism includes art, literature and film, which the vast majority of people wouldn’t think twice before praising, and the question arises as to whether these things are included in the materialism we are striving to cut out. The reason we are trying to save our planet and mankind has to be remembered, and that reason is that humanity is special, and part of what makes us special is our ability to think, and to create beautiful things, both of which translate into literature and art, and as a result materialism. 2010-02-24T13:19:47+00:00 http://thefriend.org/article/care-of-elderly-is-becoming-battleground/ http://thefriend.org/article/care-of-elderly-is-becoming-battleground/#When:13:18:45Z 2010-02-24T13:18:45+00:00 http://thefriend.org/article/a-film-feast/ http://thefriend.org/article/a-film-feast/#When:13:10:12Z 2010-02-24T13:10:12+00:00 http://thefriend.org/article/boothams-doing-1010/ http://thefriend.org/article/boothams-doing-1010/#When:13:05:21Z Quaker school takes action on sustainability Jonathon Taylor has ditched the usual way of attracting new pupils and has begun to play the ‘green’ card. The Bootham headmaster recently took the decision to get the school involved with the 10:10 initiative. This project has been set up to encourage people to cut carbon emissions by ten per cent by the end of 2010. This is a tough but achievable task for one determined school. There is a long list of changes the school is making, beginning with improving the heating and finishing the summer term in Globe Day. The school’s eco-group ‘BEAST’ comprises of a small number of pupils whose ages range from eleven to eighteen. They have organised ‘Globe Day’, which is set to go ahead in the summer term, a day off lessons on Maths, English, and Science and instead focus on climate change. The pupils will have a packed day of ‘new’ lessons on sustainability, climate change and carbon footprints. The group are working towards not only making changes within the school but to encourage a change in attitude to filter through to homes, and beyond to the wider community. 2010-02-24T13:05:21+00:00 http://thefriend.org/article/competition-friend-or-foe/ http://thefriend.org/article/competition-friend-or-foe/#When:11:45:12Z Charlotte Yeldon, a College II (yr13) student at Bootham School, examines the place of competition in the Quaker context taking as her theme the life of Joseph Rowntree – Bootham Old Scholar and social reformer We are always told to more work quickly, reflect less and produce more, but at what expense? Our society has become controlled by competition and the ruthless need for success. But honest hard work is no longer sufficient, celebrity culture monopolises our society and TV screens, when news of Jordan’s latest marriage is more important than the economy’s positive economic growth, you have to wonder what is valuable. People are valued less, but exploited more. Competition has embedded itself into the fabric of everyday life. Pride and self-respect have been lost as we have become shameless in the pursuit of fame and media attention. You may think that this gives little hope for our society; but I have found a hermitage, where people flourish without becoming cruel and merciless. Quaker values teach respect, humility modesty and equality. Even when the Victorians were oppressing factory workers, Quakers were creating equivalent opportunities and developing communities. 2010-02-24T11:45:12+00:00 http://thefriend.org/article/peacejam-news/ http://thefriend.org/article/peacejam-news/#When:11:41:42Z Madeleine Ward tells us about the activities of Ackworth School's PeaceJam group In March 2010, the Ackworth School PeaceJam group will travel to Bradford University for the annual PeaceJam conference hosted by the Peace Studies Department. It gives young people from all over the UK a chance to meet and learn from a Nobel Peace Prize Laureate. This year’s Laureate is José Ramos Horta, president of East Timor, formed in 2002 when it finally broke away from Indonesian rule. The country has had a long history of oppression, but Ramos Horta is committed to developing it peacefully and steadily over the coming years. In 2008, José Ramos Horta was injured in an assassination attempt but he recovered well returning to his presidential duties two months later. 2010-02-24T11:41:42+00:00 http://thefriend.org/article/ackworth-debae-should-the-practice-of-euthanasia-be-legalised/ http://thefriend.org/article/ackworth-debae-should-the-practice-of-euthanasia-be-legalised/#When:11:36:09Z Two members of the Ackworth School Debating Society offer their opinions on a contentious issue The issue of euthanasia has been receiving considerable press coverage recently, with several separate incidents of so-called ‘assisted suicide’ taking place in different parts of the United Kingdom. The Ackworth School Debating Society chose this contentious issue as the topic of a recent heated debate. What follows are the arguments of the two main speakers. ‘The word “euthanasia” is derived from the Greek ‘eu’ meaning “easy” or “good”, and “thantos” meaning death’, writes Johnathan Zemlick. ‘In the modern day, when people’s lives in the First World are getting longer and longer without the quality of that life necessarily improving, should individuals be given the legal right to end their own lives when they choose? 2010-02-24T11:36:09+00:00 http://thefriend.org/article/ackworth-school-welcomes-terry-waite/ http://thefriend.org/article/ackworth-school-welcomes-terry-waite/#When:11:29:52Z Andrew Ward describes a powerful talk by Terry Waite Nearly 170 students and visitors packed Ackworth’s Meeting House and waited in anticipation of the arrival of our famous guest. Local Quakers and members of other denominations joined the Sixth Form to hear Terry Waite talk about his ‘Spiritual Journey’. We were anticipating that this high profile speaker, who had spent five years in captivity (four and a half in solitary confinement) would have something special to offer and we were not disappointed. Terry began by talking about his early career in Africa working as a negotiator on behalf of those imprisoned by the regime of Idi Amin and then moved on to his experiences in the Middle East which first thrust him into the limelight when he successfully negotiated the release of hostages in Iran. 2010-02-24T11:29:52+00:00 http://thefriend.org/article/ackworth-drama-hairspray/ http://thefriend.org/article/ackworth-drama-hairspray/#When:11:25:38Z Some reactions from the cast ‘Last term we performed the musical comedy Hairspray. The story explores prejudice against size and race in 1960s America. I played the role of Penny Pingleton, the main character’s best friend. Penny, a quirky, geeky, ‘in-her-own-little-world’ girl, brings with her the majority of the comedy in this play. Her oddball behaviour and her reactions to events in the story were a great success with the audience. I really enjoyed this production as it combined all of my passions: music, drama and dance. It was great to work with people to whom I wouldn’t ordinarily speak in school and I feel playing this role has been one of my biggest achievements.’ Hester Plant (4th Year) Culture, Arts 2010-02-24T11:25:38+00:00 http://thefriend.org/article/world-challenge-expedition-to-namibia/ http://thefriend.org/article/world-challenge-expedition-to-namibia/#When:10:41:32Z Jake Usman describes an adventurous trip I have only just finished putting all of my Namibia pictures up in my study. It is strange looking at how much we actually experienced while we were there. Our adventure starts back in Fifth Year, the first interest, the impossibility of raising well over £28,000 as a group, the first feelings of excitement. After months and months of letters, bag packs, school fund-raisers, marathons, saving, part-time jobs and generous friends and family, we were on a plane to Namibia. We arrived in Windloek – it was so cold, which we were not expecting – dressed in shorts and t-shirts like real tourists. We were met by Doo Doo, our driver, who took us to buy enough food for ten days and also to buy a cement mixer, paint brushes, varnish, rags, tiles, blackboard, paint, hammers, screwdrivers and a lot more. 2010-02-24T10:41:32+00:00 http://thefriend.org/article/a-quaker-educated-perspective-on-the-world/ http://thefriend.org/article/a-quaker-educated-perspective-on-the-world/#When:10:18:59Z Judy Kirby introduces the Quaker schools special edition and explains why she commissioned it We can all remember this… ‘we trudge to school, and we complain that it’s too early, or too dark, or too wet, or quite possibly all three’. We’ve slept till the last minute ‘and not many of us bother with the luxury of the morning news’. Oblivious then, to the wider world. This is a pupil at Sibford Quaker School describing one of his days. But it is a Friday and ‘everyone gathers to attend the last obstacle that lies between them and the weekend, the Friday Meeting’. And it is here that the awfulness of the world intrudes, as the gathered school Meeting hears recordings from eyewitnesses of the Haitian earthquake. Our scholar responds – ‘the weary travellers of the world start to wake’. For a Friend editor, Quaker schools are up there with ‘Are Quakers Christian?’ as a bone of contention. So it is with some trepidation we present this special Schools’ issue, in which we have invited seven Friends schools in Britain to write their own mini versions of the magazine. They were each given the same briefing – produce three pages of comment, opinion, feature material and reviews. We thought the Eye page a bit too idiosyncratic for kids to reproduce, but that could have been a mistake! free content 2010-02-24T10:18:59+00:00 http://thefriend.org/article/quakers-call-for-end-to-detention-of-child-immigrants/ http://thefriend.org/article/quakers-call-for-end-to-detention-of-child-immigrants/#When:14:59:25Z Christians join forces to urge change to government practice of imprisoning children Quakers in Britain have joined a call on the UK government to ‘bring an immediate end to the unnecessary and inhumane practice of imprisoning children, babies and young people in immigration removal centres’. The demand was made in a letter published in the Daily Telegraph today and was signed by Susan Seymour, clerk of Meeting for Sufferings (a decision-making body of Quakers in Britain). The letter was written in response to the children’s commissioner report on children detained at Yarl’s Wood Immigration Removal Centre, which was published last week. News, featured in the homepage carousel, free content 2010-02-23T14:59:25+00:00 http://thefriend.org/article/the-voices-of-the-hunger-strikers/ http://thefriend.org/article/the-voices-of-the-hunger-strikers/#When:13:43:47Z Frances Laing spoke to some of the hunger strikers over the weekend Denise McNeil is from Jamaica. Her brother was murdered there and she fears for her family. The mother of two spoke to me on the telephone from Yarl’s Wood Kingfisher segregation block on Saturday 20 February. Denise seemed very weak and tired. She told me she was ‘so depressed’ and hadn’t been outside for two weeks. Sanitary conditions are ‘disgusting’ she said. ‘No water in the tap’, and the toilets were ‘not flushing’. She had been placed on suicide watch. As we spoke a male officer stood at the door. There were no proper medical facilities. News, featured in the homepage carousel, featured quote, free content 2010-02-23T13:43:47+00:00 http://thefriend.org/article/a-matter-of-conscience-hunger-strikers-at-yarls-wood/ http://thefriend.org/article/a-matter-of-conscience-hunger-strikers-at-yarls-wood/#When:13:35:23Z Frances Laing reports on the women’s hunger strike that started on 5 February On Friday 5 February women detained at Yarl’s Wood immigration removal centre in Bedfordshire started a hunger strike. It involved over eighty women who were locked up at the centre. The following Monday the Black Women’s Rape Action Project – who support women at Yarl’s Wood – published a report that alleged that the hunger strikers had suffered brutal recriminations and had been beaten by guards and subjected to racist abuse: ‘Over fifty women are currently trapped in an airless hallway in Yarl’s Wood Immigration Removal Centre. On Friday 5 February they began a hunger strike. Today they were herded into the hallway where they have been left there for over two hours without access to water or toilets. Four women, including an asthma sufferer, have fainted. Around 1.30 the guards came into the hallway and started to beat women. As we spoke to one woman she told us that someone was bleeding. One of the managers told the women they would regret what they have done; she called the Chinese women monkeys, and the Black women black monkeys. Four other women have been locked in other rooms for three hours, and have been told by room mates that their belongings have been packed. They are worried they face immediate removal even though their cases are still being considered. Fifteen women have been locked up in “Kingfisher”, the punishment wing. News, featured in the homepage carousel, featured quote, free content 2010-02-23T13:35:23+00:00 http://thefriend.org/article/lancaster-friends-hold-vigil-for-peace-activists/ http://thefriend.org/article/lancaster-friends-hold-vigil-for-peace-activists/#When:16:54:38Z Mo Kelly reports on a special Lancaster Quaker initiative Lancaster Meeting held a 12 hour Peace Vigil (6am to 6pm) on Monday 15 February, in solidarity with those, including Quakers, who were taking part that day in the Trident Ploughshares action at the Aldermaston Atomic Weapons Establishment. We believed that there would be those in our area unable for various reasons to travel south for the event, yet would wish to hold the event in silence and bring knowledge and awareness of the significance of Aldermaston AWE in the £76bn Trident replacement proposed by the present government – to the attention of others. News, featured in the homepage carousel, free content 2010-02-18T16:54:38+00:00 http://thefriend.org/article/eyewitness-19-february-2010/ http://thefriend.org/article/eyewitness-19-february-2010/#When:15:48:27Z A Quaker Magic Box, George Dannatt show, and not a good thing to do... Not a good thing to do… Look, I’m just too busy, OK? Four days a week with responsibilities on heritage and tourism across the north west, member of the Cheshire probation board, active friend of Handforth Station, clerk of local premises committee, just joined central nominations in London, one of the teenage General Meeting adults, and involved for a couple of days a month equivalent on Quaker young people’s activities. So don’t hassle me, OK? I’m doing what I can for you all. Well, that’s what I might have thought… Q-eye 2010-02-17T15:48:27+00:00 http://thefriend.org/article/quakers-come-through/ http://thefriend.org/article/quakers-come-through/#When:15:41:27Z Trish Carn tells of the support she recieved from Pennsylvanian Quakers Recently I lost my son Peter, who lived in the US. My family in Pennsylvania is not Quaker, despite the state having been founded by William Penn. However, aware that there was a Quaker Meeting in York, Pennsylvania, I emailed them: ‘Can you help me hold a Memorial Meeting for my son on one of the dates I would be in the US?’ Now, this was a somewhat strange request as they didn’t know me from Eve (they could probably tell me from Adam!). Fairly soon I had a response from York Meeting that they could and would help me and they offered either the Thursday afternoon or anytime Friday when one of their elders would be available. We chose Thursday afternoon at 3pm so that any of Peter’s workmates who wished could come after their shift ended. featured in the homepage carousel, free content 2010-02-17T15:41:27+00:00 http://thefriend.org/article/reaching-out-to-challenging-areas/ http://thefriend.org/article/reaching-out-to-challenging-areas/#When:15:38:13Z Martin Layton offers his perspective on recent research into public perceptions of Quakerism The results of the market research conducted by DVL Smith Ltd at the request of Quaker Quest appear to have led us into a period of re-evaluation. Those Friends who attended the Big Outreach Conference in Swanwick, Derbyshire, on the weekend 22-24 January will have been startled by the evidence of non-Quakers’ lack of knowledge of our values and beliefs. We can no longer, it seems, rely on those seeking new spiritual insights to simply find us ‘when they are ready’, but must now enter a time of turning outwards, of making ourselves a more visible option. One of the first issues we confronted was our own prejudices about the way we refer to those who are, at first sight, not ‘like us’. While there are many Meeting houses situated in challenging urban areas, most, usually all, of their members are resident in far off, affluent suburbia. Some Friends expressed the feeling of there being an invisible divide, despite their physical proximity, between Meeting houses and these ‘hard to reach’ localities. 2010-02-17T15:38:13+00:00 http://thefriend.org/article/window-on-the-square/ http://thefriend.org/article/window-on-the-square/#When:15:35:13Z RV Bailey looks at Alice Beer's 'private perspective of a public place' Window on the Square by Alice Beer. Soundswrite Press. ISBN 978 0 9550786 3 7. £3. Alice Beer is a one-off. She is not like any other poet I can think of: she has a totally individual voice, a voice of simple, unassuming, unselfconscious Quaker authority. She writes about the square where she lives, whose moods and modes and seasons she can observe through her window; and she writes also about some of her own experiences ‘In Sheltered Accommodation’, and she looks, with a gaze as clear as window glass, on the lessons of living alone and of confronting her future. Culture, Reviews 2010-02-17T15:35:13+00:00 http://thefriend.org/article/small-but-perfectly-formed/ http://thefriend.org/article/small-but-perfectly-formed/#When:15:34:35Z Judy Kirby reviews Ben Pink Dandelion's new book Celebrating the Quaker Way by Ben Pink Dandelion. Quaker Books. ISBN 978 1 90712302 3 £2.50. Quakers like their theology pocket sized. I’m sure that’s why Advices & queries is so special. There’s something very Quakerly about a mobile text. In this tiny book Ben starts immediately to praise the riches of the liberal tradition in Britain. He says he has written the booklet for Quakers themselves. ‘I write as a Quaker who came to meeting as an atheist/agnostic, drawn in by the peace testimony’, he writes, ‘an ex-anarchist, happy to find another place without leaders and without votes’. Culture, Reviews 2010-02-17T15:34:35+00:00 http://thefriend.org/article/celebrating-the-liberal-tradition/ http://thefriend.org/article/celebrating-the-liberal-tradition/#When:15:30:44Z Marion McNaughton teels us about a new book, Celebrating the Quaker Way In the world of charitable trusts and foundations the Joseph Rowntree Charitable Trust is known nationally and internationally as a funder of radical causes that challenge injustice and inequality and aim to create a better, fairer world. Within the Society of Friends in Britain and Europe it is seen primarily as a funder of Quaker projects and concerns. What is not often realised is how deeply the two are linked, and why they are interdependent. The Manchester Conference in 1895, the setting up of Woodbrooke in 1903, and the establishment of the Rowntree Trusts in 1904 all grew from the same concern – the perceived spiritual poverty in modern British Quakerism and the dwindling of the Society of Friends. Concerned Quakers were asking how the liberal or unprogrammed Quaker tradition could find ways, without a paid and trained ministry, to keep replenishing itself spiritually, to foster a vibrant sense of itself in relation to other branches of world Quakerism, and to maintain a Quaker voice in national and world affairs: The empty benches and deserted galleries of our meeting-houses are signs of a high-water mark from which the tide has ebbed away. We may recognise local or particular reasons, more or less pertinent, but the real causes, which cannot be minimised, are the poverty of our spiritual life. - John Wilhelm Rowntree: Manchester Conference 1895. Culture, Arts 2010-02-17T15:30:44+00:00 http://thefriend.org/article/lost-generation/ http://thefriend.org/article/lost-generation/#When:14:32:07Z Katharine McIntosh describes her experience of unemployment Today I have the doubtful honour of becoming an official government concern. This went unmarked by the government, or indeed by any outward sign at all, save for a note scribbled a month or so ago in my diary, reminding me (as if I needed a reminder): ‘six months unemployed today’. Now that I have been unemployed for six months, and being in the ‘sixteen to twenty-four’ age group, I have become eligible for government-backed job and training schemes, intended to prevent me from becoming part of a ‘Lost Generation’ of young people with impaired life chances: there were over a million unemployed eighteen to twenty-four-year-olds according to recent figures. According to Wikipedia (source of all knowledge to said generation) this term was ‘originally used for those who died in the war… many felt that “the flower of youth” and the “best of the nation” had been destroyed’. Mine is the generation of student top-up fees, meaning that graduates can expect to amass debts of at least fifteen thousand pounds before starting their careers. The recession has operated to spur young people to incur further debt and, critically, to inhibit the chances that we will gain employment enabling us to eventually pay it all off. But the clinching factor securing this new use of the term ‘lost generation’ is our lack of control over our situation in a system created for us: the financial system that provided the Baby Boomers and Generation X with free education, sound pensions, early retirement, even second homes, has stymied its inheritors, in providing us with manifold aspirations and expectations without means of attainment. featured in the homepage carousel, free content 2010-02-17T14:32:07+00:00 http://thefriend.org/article/letters-19-february-2010/ http://thefriend.org/article/letters-19-february-2010/#When:14:13:18Z Readers' letters and emails 2010-02-17T14:13:18+00:00 http://thefriend.org/article/same-sex-marriage1/ http://thefriend.org/article/same-sex-marriage1/#When:11:37:18Z Jill Green and Sandra Figgess ask whether Friends should give up the right to conduct legal marriages We share Sylvia Hilken’s confusion in her article (Same-sex marriage, 12 February) on why Friends are so tenaciously hanging on to their right to conduct legal marriage. When the Privilege was originally granted, civil weddings were not an option. Marriage by a priest was the only way to secure your inheritance ‘rights’. 2010-02-17T11:37:18+00:00 http://thefriend.org/article/a-good-death/ http://thefriend.org/article/a-good-death/#When:11:33:28Z The Friend editor, Judy Kirby, asks 'what is a good death?' What is a good death exactly? A palliative care specialist once told me that a good death was hard to come by. A swift and painless departure may be what we would all hope for; that’s not, however, a ‘good’ outcome for those left behind who have to deal with both shock and grief, neither does it give the departing soul much space to reflect. A brief period of awareness first and time to say goodbye? Would that be deemed a ‘good death’? At the weekend the Catholic archbishop of Westminster Vincent Nichols made some penetrating remarks about our society’s attitude to death. He was delivering a homily at a Mass for the Sick in the cathedral. The moment of death is central to our pilgrim’s journey, he said. Even the most restricted of lives is ‘lived in transcendence by virtue of being human.’ If we don’t honour this, we do violence to the person. ‘There is a hidden violence in so many of our systems, even those of care, because their operational mode is reductionist.’ 2010-02-17T11:33:28+00:00 http://thefriend.org/article/privilege-what-privilege/ http://thefriend.org/article/privilege-what-privilege/#When:11:25:37Z Diane Brewster queries how our marriages differ from others I read Sylvia Hilken’s article (Same-sex marriage,12 February) suggesting Friends give up any marriage privilege that we are allowed with both interest and some initial sympathy for her position. I do feel the need to comment on her view of non-Quaker marriages, however, as I have often found myself bemused and amused by the apparent belief among Friends that our marriage practice is actually that much different from everyone else’s. I got married twenty-four years ago in the Roman Catholic Church. Contrary to what many Friends seem to believe I did not have to have a civil ceremony before the religious one (nor was I ‘given away’ or wearing a wedding dress!). All that was required during the actual ceremony was that the building was registered for marriages, the legal form of declaratory words was used, along with the legal form of the contracting words, and had to be said in the presence of a registrar (while we could, and did, change many of the words of the RC ceremony, the state legal bits couldn’t be messed with). In our case the registrar was the parish priest (who was not the priest carrying out the ceremony but was in the congregation and then oversaw the signing of the registry book). These very short legal bits were fully integrated into the ceremony, and they really are very short! 2010-02-17T11:25:37+00:00 http://thefriend.org/article/friends-turn-out-in-peaceful-aldermaston-blockade/ http://thefriend.org/article/friends-turn-out-in-peaceful-aldermaston-blockade/#When:11:17:53Z Symon Hill reports on the campaign against renewal of the Trident nuclear weapons system Hundreds of campaigners brought the gates of the Atomic Weapons Establishment (AWE) in Aldermaston to a virtual standstill on Monday in the biggest protest to be seen at the site for some years. The blockade comes at a time of major political controversy over the renewal of the Trident nuclear weapons system and shortly ahead of a global summit on nuclear non-proliferation in May. Friends formed a significant percentage of the 800 campaigners who took part in the action. Many sat on the road or chained themselves to gates to prevent vehicles passing in and out of the site. Others stood nearby, showing support and carrying banners reading ‘No Trident renewal’ and ‘Use your skills for peace’. News, featured in the homepage carousel, free content 2010-02-17T11:17:53+00:00 http://thefriend.org/article/proposals-for-payment-for-reporting-on-benefit-cheats-brings-angry-response/ http://thefriend.org/article/proposals-for-payment-for-reporting-on-benefit-cheats-brings-angry-response/#When:11:12:10Z Fears that new policy could ‘tear communities apart’ Government proposals to pay people who report on ‘benefit cheats’ have received an angry response from anti-poverty campaigners. Minister Ed Miliband said he was considering including the idea in Labour’s general election manifesto. But Church Action on Poverty (CAP) predicted that the policy could ‘tear communities apart’. News 2010-02-17T11:12:10+00:00 http://thefriend.org/article/government-defeat-in-the-lords-weakens-equality-bill/ http://thefriend.org/article/government-defeat-in-the-lords-weakens-equality-bill/#When:11:08:50Z A fight over amendments could lose the legislation says Symon Hill A defeat for the government in the house of Lords has put the future of the Equality Bill in jeopardy. In the last year of a government, Bills can be delayed in the house of Lords, risking their path to the statute book. In this case, the government is now in the position of having to accept Lords’ amendments to the Bill or risk losing the legislation. Ministers have said that they will not fight amendments passed in the House of Lords to allow faith-based organisations to refuse to employ people on grounds of their sexuality. The amendments, which scraped through the Lords – in one case by only five votes – were promoted by socially conservative Christian groups and backed by Church of England bishops. But Cutting Edge, an anti-discrimination coalition that includes Christian, Muslim, Jewish and secular groups, encouraged the government to resist the amendments. They point out that the Bill already gives exemptions for clergy and others in representative roles. News 2010-02-17T11:08:50+00:00 http://thefriend.org/article/robin-hood-tax-plan-floated/ http://thefriend.org/article/robin-hood-tax-plan-floated/#When:11:05:38Z Tax on speculative financial transactions proposed As controversy rages over the alleged role of bankers’ greed in causing an economic downturn, a large range of campaigning and faith-based groups are calling for a ‘Robin Hood Tax’ to take from the richest and give to the rest. They say that their scheme would raise £250 billion each year ‘to support public services, fight poverty, and combat climate change’. This would be raised by a tax of 0.05 per cent on speculative banking transactions – taking tax of only 50p on every £1,000. News 2010-02-17T11:05:38+00:00 http://thefriend.org/article/campaign-lawyers-challenge-serious-fraud-office-over-bae/ http://thefriend.org/article/campaign-lawyers-challenge-serious-fraud-office-over-bae/#When:11:02:00Z Fresh challenge launched by the Corner House and Campaign Against Arms Trade The controversial plea bargain settlement with the arms company BAE Systems is the target of a fresh challenge from two campaign groups, the Corner House and Campaign Against Arms Trade (CAAT). The groups have instructed their solicitors to ask the director of the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) to revoke the settlement in which BAE pleaded guilty to accounting offences and the SFO dropped more serious charges. News 2010-02-17T11:02:00+00:00 http://thefriend.org/article/religious-groups-publish-election-resources-for-voters/ http://thefriend.org/article/religious-groups-publish-election-resources-for-voters/#When:10:50:00Z 'Faith in Politics' briefing launched Quakers have played a central role in the production of online resources to empower voters ahead of this year’s general election. The resources, produced in conjunction with ten other churches, are intended ‘to help Christians engage with a range of important issues facing our country, however they may decide to vote’. News 2010-02-17T10:50:00+00:00 http://thefriend.org/article/eyewitness-linda-murgatroyd-wins-the-friends-quarterly-essay-competition/ http://thefriend.org/article/eyewitness-linda-murgatroyd-wins-the-friends-quarterly-essay-competition/#When:13:58:34Z Tony Stoller introduces the results of the Friends Quarterly essay competition The prize essay competition, run by our sister paper, The Friends Quarterly (FQ) and supported by the Joseph Rowntree Charitable Trust, has set Friends buzzing for months. Even so, the total of 106 entries greatly exceeded expectations, and gave the judges a difficult task. We now know the winners, and what is to happen next. First prize has been awarded to Linda Murgatroyd of Kingston & Wandsworth Area Meeting. Her essay is entitled ‘The future of Quakers in Britain: holding spaces for the spirit to act’. Two further prizes were awarded: to Simon Best of London West Area Meeting for ‘The future of the Religious Society of Friends: Simple, contemporary, radical?’ and to Felicity Kaal of Bristol Area Meeting for ‘The Future of Quakerism’. The winning essays will be printed in the next issue of The Friends Quarterly in May. Q-eye 2010-02-10T13:58:34+00:00 http://thefriend.org/article/work-in-the-world-gaza-convoy-diary/ http://thefriend.org/article/work-in-the-world-gaza-convoy-diary/#When:13:35:16Z Bristol Quakers joined the recent Viva Palestina convoy taking humanitarian aid to Gaza. Monica Jones kept a diary. Sunday 6th December 2009 Ambulances and vans from all over the UK have gathered today in London, all driven by people determined to ease the suffering caused by the siege of Gaza. George Galloway arrives and says words of encouragement. We’re warned that convoy leaders will watch for dangerous driving and order perpetrators home if necessary. And we’re off… Monday 7th December A freezing night spent under canvas in a car park outside Brussels makes the morning’s discovery of heated washrooms especially welcome. Nightfall sees us hurtling round a series of terrifying bends made scarier by rain and darkness, in the direction of the German border. We come to a stop near Stuttgart, on a piece of wasteland by an industrial estate. As we pitch tents, the rain streams down and the bedding gets drenched. A wet night turns to a freezing one, and we all toss and turn until a chilly winter light tells us it’s morning. Tuesday 8th December An earlier start today – off by 10.00. Germany is pretty here – the rolling farmland, the steep-roofed houses clustered round the village church. Now we’re climbing. The air grows cold – and our van has no heating! We stop overnight at a lorry park at Kelversfielden. Am woken in a fright at 6.45 am, from my first warm sleep this trip, by a terrific shouting outside the tent. Only our group leader Shak telling everyone to get up. Out of Germany – into Austria. We enjoy the drive over the Brenner Pass, in the looming shadow of snow-covered mountains. We’re in Italy, when word comes over the CB radio that a van is on fire, and ‘going to explode’. (The four women in it told us later they thought their end was nigh.) It was a bit of lagging getting singed by the engine. featured in the homepage carousel 2010-02-10T13:35:16+00:00 http://thefriend.org/article/the-water-table/ http://thefriend.org/article/the-water-table/#When:13:29:43Z Poetry for all places says Peter Bennet The Water Table by Philip Gross. Bloodaxe Books. ISBN: 1 85224 852 1. £8.95. Philip Gross has had a distinguished career as a writer and teacher while managing to avoid becoming a household name. He has written fiction, children’s opera, radio plays, horror and science fiction as well as poetry. The Water Table, which has just won the TS Eliot Prize, is his seventh collection, and very good indeed. The first thing to strike me was fluidity of form. There are deftly handled traditional shapes, such as ‘Severn Shore’, in rhyming quatrains, and ‘Fantasia on a Theme from IKEA’, which is a sequence of seven sonnets, but many of the poems seem to writhe and shiver, at times as if impatient with the constrictions of the page. This is highly appropriate given the watery nature of the book’s prevailing locations, never far from the Bristol Channel. Culture, Reviews 2010-02-10T13:29:43+00:00 http://thefriend.org/article/dancing-with-the-spirit/ http://thefriend.org/article/dancing-with-the-spirit/#When:13:22:56Z Rowena Loverance talks to an acclaimed Quaker poet ‘Now, let’s have a barn dance!’ Not, you might think, the most obvious opening for outreach, but this was the line which Philip Gross credits with starting him on the road to Friends. It was his first time in a Meeting house, sometime in the early 1970s, at the end of a college friend’s Quaker wedding, and the chairs were being moved out of the way. ‘There was an astonishing feeling of people being in a circle, equal with each other’. When, over a decade later, Philip took his daughter to her first dancing class in a similar room, a different Meeting house, it felt somehow familiar. ‘I might always have been doing a dance with the Spirit.’ Culture, Arts, featured in the homepage carousel 2010-02-10T13:22:56+00:00 http://thefriend.org/article/same-sex-marriage/ http://thefriend.org/article/same-sex-marriage/#When:13:08:38Z Sylvia Hilken takes a different perspective on Equality and Truth Yearly Meeting last year at York took a significant step forward in committing to achieving equality for same-sex couples wanting to tie the knot in a Quaker Meeting. I was not present myself, but listening to Friends, I have no doubt that the process was both deeply moving and sensitively and skilfully clerked. I am glad of the commitment to progress that emerged. Nevertheless, I doubt that the way chosen is the right one. A large Meeting can establish a general direction, but is not the place to consider the implications in depth. That is the stuff of discussion and threshing. The way the Society hopes to achieve equality for same-gender couples is in keeping with our history so far. It is my conviction, though, that quite a few important points have been ignored or not thought through rigorously beyond the comfort zone of traditional Quaker discourse. So it is entirely possible that a deeply gathered Meeting can arrive at a decision that may later have to be rethought. I abstain from giving examples; most of you will know some. Bluntly put, the way currently adopted to achieve equality for same-sex couples to me looks like a cop-out and a fudge. I will try and sketch out why below. featured in the homepage carousel, free content 2010-02-10T13:08:38+00:00 http://thefriend.org/article/letters-12-february-2010/ http://thefriend.org/article/letters-12-february-2010/#When:11:52:19Z Readers' letters and emails 2010-02-10T11:52:19+00:00 http://thefriend.org/article/dont-let-arms-traders-off-the-hook/ http://thefriend.org/article/dont-let-arms-traders-off-the-hook/#When:11:44:47Z Don't let the rich and powerful buy exemptions from justice, says Symon Hill The Serious Fraud Office (SFO) has dropped their corruption investigations into the arms company BAE Systems in return for an admission of guilt over ‘accounting irregularities’ and a payout of over £30 million. Given the millions that they rake in each year, this is roughly the equivalent of the Inland Revenue fining someone £100 for submitting a late tax return. The situation is a slight improvement on 2006, when BAE lobbied Tony Blair’s government into pressurising the SFO to drop its investigation into Saudi arms deals. At least this time a (tiny) payout and a (ludicrous) confession were required. 2010-02-10T11:44:47+00:00 http://thefriend.org/article/speaking-truth-about-the-bible/ http://thefriend.org/article/speaking-truth-about-the-bible/#When:11:34:51Z Nick Bagnall considers how Quakers can understand the Bible Prompted by the two articles on the Bible, I have two suggestions to make to Friends. I was brought up to believe that the Bible was the word of God. However, I have now come to realize that it is no more than a collection of human writings, which contain only a few glimpses of guidance to leading a satisfactory life. 2010-02-10T11:34:51+00:00 http://thefriend.org/article/the-language-of-the-bible-and-its-use/ http://thefriend.org/article/the-language-of-the-bible-and-its-use/#When:11:26:59Z Eva Pinthus looks at the languages and translation All religious language is metaphor and symbolism. The Bible is a collection of stories originally orally transmitted over some 2,000 years. They tell of diverse experiences of many Semitic tribes living in what we now call loosely the Middle East. The Bible is neither a history nor a scientific book, though some incidents may well have occurred. People then as now reflect on what has happened to them and try to make sense of their experiences both good and bad. The stories reflected the past and the present and often hopes for the future. The first part of the Bible we call Old Testament was written in Hebrew. The much smaller later part, we now call New Testament, was mainly written in Greek though some may have had Aramaic origins. Those of us who have worked in more than one language know how difficult translating can be. One needs to know the cultural, geographical and ethnic backgrounds in which these languages are or were used. 2010-02-10T11:26:59+00:00